Apple and Microsoft unveil their best new laptops

Today has been a big week in the history of both Apple and Microsoft. Microsoft executives took to the stage to unveil the Surface Studio, a desktop touchscreen all-in-one designed for creative professionals. Microsoft also unveiled its newest edition of Surface Book, the Surface Book i7. The next day, Apple took the cover off its latest MacBook Pro.

The Surface Book i7 keeps much of its design and look from the previous generation. The laptop convertible has a unique hinge that enables the device to function as a laptop, tablet, or nearly anything in between. The touchscreen display has support for Microsoft’s custom stylus, which has been optimized for creative tasks such as drawing and design. With available i7 processors and doubled graphics performance, the Windows 10 powered device should be able to power through many pro tasks. Up to 16 hours of battery life is promised for laptop mode. The Surface Book i7 isn’t cheap, though; it’s priced at $2,399, and is expected to ship on November 10th.

Apple returned the punch on Thursday, announcing the new MacBook Pro. Apple has refined the design, making a more attractive piece of hardware, and in typical Apple fashion, the new laptops are thinner and lighter. With upgraded processors and graphics, the devices offer improved displays with better contrast, wider color, and better efficiency. The keyboard has been changed, too – to an upgraded 2nd-generation butterfly mechanism, which Apple says will offer better tactile feedback over the original butterfly keyboard.

The star of the show was the Touch Bar, a long and thin display that takes the place of the traditional function keys. Apple showed off the Touch Bar’s integration with system functions, such as adjusting the volume, and in professional applications, such as Photoshop and Final Cut Pro. Also integrated is a 2nd-generation Touch ID fingerprint sensor, which can be used for logging in to user accounts, and for making purchases via Apple Pay. The new MacBook Pro drops the MagSafe and standard USB ports, opting instead for four Thunderbolt 3 ports that double as USB Type-C ports. The MacBook Pro with Touch Bar is said to achieve up to 10 hours of battery life and starts at $1,799.